The Brazilian Ministry of Justice and the Brazilian Secretariat for Drug and Alcohol Policies has awarded a large grant to the Center for Drug and Alcohol Research at the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, Brazil, to integrate drug abuse treatment and prevention programs in 60 counties in the states of Porto Alegre, Rio de Janeiro, Salvador, Vitoria, and Brasilia. Former NIDA Hubert H. Humphrey Fellow Flavio Pechansky, M.D., Ph.D., M.Sc., Director of the Center for Drug and Alcohol Research, will coordinate the project. Researchers will identify and evaluate public, community, and private programs that already exist in these localities, mapping and georeferencing services to improve referral systems. The project will develop specialty training courses for approximately 6,000 health care and social work professionals in treatment and social rehabilitation of individuals with drug and alcohol abuse problems, particularly juveniles, and will educate more than 3,000 law enforcement officers and judiciary professionals about drug and alcohol issues. Researchers also will conduct a wide array of studies aimed specifically at crack users and pregnant at-risk women and their newborns.
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